Russell Brand has hit the headlines this week after appearing in parliament before the Home Affairs Select Committee to discuss his experience and views on drug abuse. A former addict himself, the elegiac funny man and Hollywood star appeared, as always, fashionably bedraggled, as if someone had used a Louis Vuitton stencil to cut out the holes in his baggy black vest.

Despite this infuriatingly annoying ‘faux-shabbines’, as well as the use of some poorly chosen flamboyant language that would have no doubt only further dissuaded the stiff necked Committee he sat before from his argument, the self-described “recalcitrant” comedian, (to you and me that means “a bit of an arse”), came up with some excellent points, leaving me with a great deal of respect for the man.

Decriminalisation of all drug use was his main agenda. Stating from experience that the illegality of drugs was no more than “a…